74 court of appeals of maryland

olis, undated, but written apparently in or before
1785, said, "There is, my best belov'd, but little
probability of the court rising this week—we have
not enter'd on business as yet—to-morrow we ex-
pect to begin, but it is doubtful to me whether we
shall even commence business this week".¹⁴ There
seems to have been, still, comparatively small im-
portance attached to the disposal of appellate busi-
ness. Then, as before the Revolution, cases rested
on the docket undisturbed for years; and the last
of the seven carried over from the May term of
1776 was not disposed of until 1788.

It was on May 12, 1783, that the first argu-
ment was heard after the Revolution, that in the
case of Pellett and others v. Robert Long's Lessee.
All five judges had been present since May 7,
but for reasons not apparent nothing was done in
the earlier days. A preliminary question in this
first case was whether.the appeal could be enter-
tained after the dismissal by the court of the Gov-
ernor and Council seven years before, and after
the passage of certain acts of assembly relating to
the case; and it was held that it could not be en-
tertained.¹⁵ The second argument was in Upton
Scott v. Eleanor Toogood, on a petition for free-
dom, and that was heard on May 14, 1783.¹⁶ Jere-
miah Townley Chase, who was destined to become
Chief Judge of the court in 1806, appeared for
the petitioning woman.¹⁷

14. Maryland Historical Magazine II, 259.

15. 1 Harris & McHenry, 531, 535.

16. 2 Harris & McHenry, 26.

17. It is noteworthy that throughout the eighteenth century, and some-
what beyond, negroes petitioning to be declared free commanded
the services of some of the best lawyers at the bar for their cases,
and received the fullest measure of care and consideration from